Wrangell’s Assembly mulled over a sizable list of capital priorities for the coming fiscal year Monday.
There were 103 items on the list, which finance director Lee Burgess ranked from critical to moderate necessity.
He recommended 20 of these requests be funded, 13 coming from the city’s General Fund in the amount of $594,000. Topping the list was an addressable fire alarm replacement for the Public Safety Building, as well as new heating system piping, roof repair and considerable siding repair. Together these four items would amount to $335,000.
Another four of these recommended items deal with the public pool, which also involves roof repair due to its similarity to the PSB, as well as replacement pool lighting, a new hot water tank, and pneumatic controls. These amount to $160,500.
The remaining appropriations Burgess recommended from the General Fund were $60,000 for a new mechanic’s service truck, 10 sets of turnout gear for Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department and scuba harness replacements.
The request was only a fraction of the items departments requested from the fund, which in all totaled $4.9M. Grant assistance could be applied to some items, such as with the fire alarm system, which could bring the total amount drawn from the General Fund to around $450,000, which would surprisingly still see a surplus from last year.
“We ended the 2016 fiscal year with a pretty significant General Fund surplus,” Burgess explained.
Several capital items budgeted for the year failed to come to pass, most significantly an appropriation for courthouse renovations where bids were rejected for being too high. So even with the added allocation from the fund, Burgess projected it would still pencil out with a surplus.
Seven other items on the capital request list would come from departmental enterprise funds. For example, $170,000 was requested for electrical utilities, to complete the Church Street and Cow Alley rebuilds. (see Utilities story)
Ongoing sewer line and pump station repair projects would see another $200,000 pulled from that fund, as would another $200,000 requested for replacement of the sanitation department’s excavator. The excavator – which enables the movement of garbage collected at the city’s waste transfer facility – was one of only two items given “critical” priority. The other was replacement of the roughing filter at the water treatment facility, for which $180,000 was requested. In all, $810,000 was requested from enterprise funds.
A full draft budget for the coming year, which starts July 1, should be available to review within the next week or so, Burgess told the Assembly. Some things to expect will be a slight increase in revenue sharing from the state, from $379,000 to $408,000. Depending on survey results, Wrangell could requalify for Community Development Block Grant Funding of up to $850,000 per year. Public employees’ health premium costs also dropped by close to eight percent, thanks to higher employee wellness program participation.
There will be some unknowns to consider with the coming year as well, with Wrangell Police Department potentially looking at new recruitment, following turnover of two officers in recent years and possible leave of another. While those positions could be looked at for cuts, Burgess advised Assembly members to consider scheduling and patrol commitments that would be affected, as well as the cost of overtime and on-call pay.
WVFD also needs to replace two, and possibly three of its pumper trucks. One in particular was built in 1984, and Chief Tim Buness recommended its replacement. The cost of a new vehicle though would be daunting, at about $300,000. A fund has been recently set aside to begin saving for one, but Burgess informed Assembly members no direction has been given yet to start diverting monies toward it.
Also in a grim situation, the city cemetery needs to be expanded. Clerk Kim Lane explained there are only about 20 plots left, and one spot on the columbarium’s memorial wall.
“I think it’s crucial that we look at a cemetery expansion,” she commented.
The sooner the better – she explained grounds prepared for such use need to be allowed to settle for some time before burials can commence. A request for $50,000 to plan and design a layout for an expansion was made, but not recommended by the finance department.
Other departmental expenses will be looked at in greater depth once a budget is drafted, with a workshop scheduled ahead of the May 30 meeting at 6 p.m. In addition to already looking at various rate adjustments, Burgess recommended the Assembly consider undertaking a wage and benefits study across the board.
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